All posts tagged: warnings

Friendship fraud: warnings of rise in ‘insidious’ scam targeting older people | Scams

Friendship fraud: warnings of rise in ‘insidious’ scam targeting older people | Scams

Published by Sam Flores

As you have got older, retirement has left you with more time on your hands. Loneliness has set in. Luckily, you have found a friend through one of the online motoring groups you are in, and a close bond has blossomed over your common interest in cars. But your new friend has found themselves short when it comes to paying for their university textbooks, and has asked you for £50. It’s not much, and you get on so well that you agree to pay via bank transfer. It will be the first of many requests for payment that the “friend” makes, all for seemingly small amounts, but which mount up as part of a structured “friendship fraud” that preys on older and vulnerable people who are in search of human contact. TSB is reporting a rise in scams where criminals are using social media to befriend people before defrauding them out of thousands of pounds, often over lengthy periods of time. The scam has many of the same characteristics as romance fraud, where victims are …

AI could accurately deliver flood warnings in data-scarce regions

AI could accurately deliver flood warnings in data-scarce regions

Published by skeptic

New research reveals that ‘foundation models’ trained on vast, general time‑series data may be able to forecast river flows accurately, even in regions with little or no local hydrological records. The approach could improve flood warnings, drought planning, and water resource management in parts of the world where monitoring data is limited. The study, published in ‘Machine Learning: Earth’, was conducted by researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and Hydrotify LLC. Dr Alexander Sun from the University of Texas at Austin and Hydrotify LLC explained, “Reliable water information is essential for communities everywhere, but many regions still lack the long-term records needed to support traditional forecasting methods.” Lack of flood warnings causes a chain of devastation In many parts of the world, river gauges are sparse, records are incomplete, and monitoring networks are difficult to maintain. Without long, reliable datasets, communities often have little warning before floods, limited insight into drought risk and fewer tools to guide water allocation and infrastructure planning. When flood warnings are absent, the consequences shift from manageable to …

Campaigners say Lake Windermere needs real-time pollution warnings after two swimmers were taken to hospital | UK News

Campaigners say Lake Windermere needs real-time pollution warnings after two swimmers were taken to hospital | UK News

Published by Sam Flores

Real-time pollution warnings are needed at Lake Windermere after two people swimming there were taken to hospital last summer, campaigners have said. A seven-year-old boy developed life-threatening kidney failure following an E coli infection allegedly linked to him swimming in the lake. Windermere, in the Lake District in Cumbria, is one of the UK’s most popular open-water swimming destinations and attracts millions of visitors every year. In August last year, Claire and her family were kayaking in the lake when she noticed the water appeared murky, but she said she was reassured by the Environment Agency’s “excellent” bathing water classification. But hours later, her seven-year-old son became violently ill, suffering severe vomiting and rectal bleeding. He was admitted to hospital but his condition rapidly deteriorated, and after three days, he was transferred to a regional children’s hospital. The boy was diagnosed with haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a life-threatening condition which is one of the leading causes of sudden kidney failure in children. Four days later, he experienced hallucinations after toxins from the infection began affecting …

Weather warnings for strong winds issued for parts of UK | UK News

Weather warnings for strong winds issued for parts of UK | UK News

Published by Sam Flores

Weather warnings for strong winds have been issued for parts of the UK. Forecasters have said there could be gusts of 65-70mph, with a small chance of gusts of 75-80mph in a few locations, with rain and blustery showers accompanying the strongest winds. The yellow warning for wind is in place for northern England, the Midlands, north Wales and parts of Scotland from 5am on Thursday until 8pm. There is also a warning in place for Northern Ireland from 6am to 12pm on Thursday, where gusts could reach 50-60mph for a short period, along with heavy rain. Find out the forecast for your area Image: Pic: Met Office The Met Office said: “A period of strong winds, accompanied by heavy rain, is expected on Thursday with some transport disruption possible.” A yellow warning for wind is already in place for parts of northern Scotland. It comes before temperatures are expected to drop across the country on Friday – with snow forecast in some areas. Christopher England, Sky News meteorologist, said that “it’s looking quite unsettled …

Israel expands strikes in Lebanon and issues new evacuation warnings

Israel expands strikes in Lebanon and issues new evacuation warnings

Published by Sam Flores

Israel and Hezbollah have been trading tit for tat strikes for a second day. According to a Lebanese health ministry official, 52 people have been killed and more than 150 wounded due to Israeli attacks . Thousands of civilians have been displaced, and on March 3rd the Israeli military issued dozens of new evacuation warnings for areas it said were near Hezbollah’s facilities. Keywords for this article Source link

Off-rolling curbs welcomed, but warnings over ‘gaps in data’

Off-rolling curbs welcomed, but warnings over ‘gaps in data’

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles Labour’s off-rolling crackdown could finally “shed light on a practice that is currently invisible” but must be supported by councils and trusts to work, experts have said.  The schools white paper unveiled plans to tighten up scrutiny over pupil movements, and to interrogate the leaders of schools suspected of illegal exclusions or other shady methods to skew cohorts.  Kiran Gill, chief executive of inclusion charity The Difference, said this “has been an area of insufficient data accountability”.  “It shouldn’t be up to investigative journalists or brilliant statisticians to highlight where there’s a system challenge.”  Concerning practices The government will launch a new internal dashboard that identifies school-level trends “that could suggest off-rolling or other concerning practices, including off-site direction and managed moves”. Kiran Gill It will use this to conduct an annual review of how children move through the education system. Officials will “follow up on a targeted basis with responsible bodies to better understand and challenge where there are possible concerns”. Off-rolling is when a pupil is removed …

New tool provides first space weather warnings months in advance

New tool provides first space weather warnings months in advance

Published by skeptic

Researchers have developed a new tool that provides a first step toward forecasting space weather weeks in advance instead of just hours. Developed by the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) and Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), a system for advance space weather warnings could allow agencies and industries to mitigate impacts to GPS, power grids, astronaut safety and more. The tool, known as PINNBARDS, is advancing a new generation of physics-informed, AI-enabled forecasting tools to better understand and anticipate extreme space weather. The growing threats of space weather Space weather – driven by solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) – poses significant risks to our modern, technology-dependent way of life. When the Sun erupts, it releases a torrent of charged particles and radiation. If these reach Earth, they can trigger geomagnetic storms that interfere with our infrastructure in three main ways: Power grid failure: Rapidly changing magnetic fields can induce extra currents in long-distance power lines, potentially blowing out transformers and causing widespread, long-term blackouts. Satellite disruption: High-energy particles …

Snowstorm in northeastern US leaves 40 million people under weather warnings

Snowstorm in northeastern US leaves 40 million people under weather warnings

Published by Sam Flores

People walk through the snow on February 23, 2026, in New York City. RYAN MURPHY / AFP More than 40 million people were under weather warnings in the northeastern United States on Monday, February 23, as a winter storm dumped shin-deep snow and officials in New York enforced a citywide travel ban. The so-called “Nor’easter” pummeled the region overnight, disrupting flights and leaving hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani ordered nonessential drivers off the road until midday Monday and shut down schools. Authorities in neighboring New Jersey and Rhode Island issued similar travel restrictions. The National Weather Service said snowfall would ebb overnight, but warned that strong winds would still create blizzard conditions in some areas. As of 4 pm local time, more than 5,600 flights in or out of the US had been canceled and hundreds more delayed, according to tracking service FlightAware. The three major airports in New York, as well as Boston Logan Airport, saw the most cancellations. By Monday lunchtime, Rhode Island’s TF …

A major winter storm hits the Northeast, with blizzard warnings in effect : NPR

A major winter storm hits the Northeast, with blizzard warnings in effect : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

A snowplow drives down the road in Times Square on Sunday in New York City. Ryan Murphy/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Ryan Murphy/Getty Images Officials are warning those in the path of a dangerous winter storm to take precautions and heed warnings as blizzard conditions are impacting the East Coast through Monday. The National Weather Service (NWS) on Sunday said the storm will bring “heavy snow, high winds, blizzard conditions and coastal flooding across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.” Cody Snell, a forecaster with the NWS Weather Prediction Center, said Sunday there could be at least 18 inches to 2 feet of snow along parts of the East Coast from New Jersey up through Massachusetts. “That’s where we’re going to see the major impacts from snowfall with this system that includes heavy snowfall rates, which can reduce visibility and accumulate on roads very quickly tonight, into tomorrow morning,” Snell said during a briefing on Sunday. “We’re going to see the snowfall be very heavy and wet. … It’s going to weigh down trees, power lines.” …

CEO of Mistral AI says warnings about extreme risks of artificial intelligence are often ‘distraction tactics’

CEO of Mistral AI says warnings about extreme risks of artificial intelligence are often ‘distraction tactics’

Published by Sam Flores

Arthur Mensch, in the offices of Mistral AI, Paris, February 20, 2024. CHA GONZALEZ FOR LE MONDE What is the view of Frenchman Arthur Mensch, the co-founder of Mistral AI, on the warnings about the extreme risks of artificial intelligence that have been issued by leaders of major American tech firms such as Sam Altman and Dario Amodei? At the AI summit in India, held from February 16 to February 20, OpenAI CEO Altman raised the idea of creating a kind of “[International Atomic Energy Agency] for international coordination of AI,” in response to the emergence of “true superintelligence,” which he said could appear within “a couple of years.” Meanwhile, Anthropic founder Amodei published a lengthy essay at the end of January, “The Adolescence of Technology,” in which he outlined the risks of advanced AI systems or their use to create biological weapons. “These are mostly distraction tactics,” responded Mensch, who was interviewed on Friday, February 20, by Le Monde and by the radio station France Inter at the New Delhi AI summit. “In reality, …